A hypnotic allegory of spiritual enlightenment, grounded in the symbolism of Eastern and Western religious traditions.
In Maghzi’s (Woman’s Talisman, 2015, etc.) parable, a princess not only finds her prince, but also her place and purpose in the universe.
In a mythical kingdom in an unknown time, an eternal feminine spirit is drawn to earth by the dream of a “pure-hearted” queen. The spirit enters the queen’s womb and is later born as her daughter. The king is initially happy to have a child, but when he looks into her eyes, they act as a mirror, reflecting his own cruel ambition back at him. As a result, he casts the child out of the kingdom, expecting her to die in the bleak wilderness. However, God shelters the princess, sending birds to make her a soft bed and butterflies to form a blanket. God’s tears water the ground and bring life to the barren earth. As the princess grows up, she draws the attention of a lover, an “eternal masculine being” who longs to be with her. As she learns to find a balance between the spirit and visible worlds, the princess makes a covenant with God and brings healing, light, and love back to the kingdom, where her hard-hearted, greedy father and brothers still rule. In this book, author Maghzi has created a poetic fable based on elements of the Baha’i faith, as well as elements of other spiritual teachings. It’s a complex and ethereal narrative, and its length and mystical tone may make it challenging for some readers. However, the lyrical prose is intriguing and offers rewards to those who stick with it. For example, the author effectively interweaves many different references to mirrors, including the “Light in a Mirror” that represents the material world and the princess’s aforementioned role as the reflector of the kingdom’s soul.
A hypnotic allegory of spiritual enlightenment, grounded in the symbolism of Eastern and Western religious traditions.Pub Date: July 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5255-0412-9
Page Count: 282
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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